The daddy-entrepreneur connection: Managing startup life with a toddler in tow

"Having a kid and running a startup at the same time isn't easy, but
these have been the most rewarding years of my life so far. My advice to
fellow founders? Take the plunge and have a kid—it'll make you a much
better entrepreneur," says Anson Sowby.
YEC

Being a young entrepreneur isn't easy.Being a new dad isn't easy.Put them together and you’re like a freshman driving the lane against LeBron James. But, it can be done—and here's how I'm doing it (or at least trying to do it).

The day my wife gave birth to our son, Luke, my professional life of running a social media startup called RocketXL immediately melded with my personal life.We'd recently won Dove's digital business, which was a very big deal for us as a small agency.I couldn't afford the luxury of taking time off since tending a growing startup, just like a newborn, is an "always on" gig.

Case in point: The day Luke was born was the same day we launched our first Dove campaign, and I took conference calls from my wife's hospital room.I know that sounds a bit extreme, but I had a choice to make—and I chose both.(Those calls from the maternity ward must have won me some brownie points, as we're still going strong with the Dove brand three years later.)

Now that my son is a toddler, the lessons he teaches me are endless.Just last week, he watched me string up Christmas lights—until he decided that it would be more fun to take the box of lights and throw it on the ground to see it smash all over the concrete.

I was pretty startled, needless to say, and raised my voice: "LUKE! What did you do?!?"On cue, Luke ran to his room sobbing, where he promptly buried himself in the corner, crossed his arms and repeated, "Me mad at you daddy!"

It broke my heart to see how much my five words could affect him.My mind raced 16 years into the future, where I could see Luke telling the Christmas lights story to his parole officer in jail.

Startup lessons, toddler-style

A few days later, as I told the story to a co-worker, it made me think about my staff at RocketXL and how my words affect them, too. Although they don't run to their rooms sobbing, I'm pretty sure I've made a few of them run to their LinkedIn accounts looking for a new job.As parents and as leaders, we sometimes have to take one step back and use a mistake as a teaching moment rather than a scolding one.

Teaching moments with my son are a lot like my advertising career.Luke is now at that age where he says "Why?" a lot.It's not enough for me to bark commands like "Pick up your toys" or "Put your rain boots on" anymore. I have to offer explanations, like, "Pick up your toys otherwise you'll lose them" and "Put your rain boots on so that you don't get sick and wet."

The same principle applies when we’re coming up with advertising campaigns for any of our clients.Our consumers won't buy a product simply because we tell them to; they need to understand why.

It's something that we like to ask ourselves at RocketXL: "Is the juice worth the squeeze?"In other words, is what we're asking our consumers to do worth it?From "Liking" a Facebook ad to clicking on an app, is the reward worth what we're asking them to do? (If only I could get my son to stop clicking on apps!)

3 tips for managing a growing toddler and a growing startup

Here are a few tips that have helped me make parenthood and startup life work together—most of the time:

1. Location, location, location (it matters).I chose an office space within 2 miles of my house, which in Los Angeles is unheard of.But this allowed me to easily juggle the 24/7 startup life with the 24/7 life of a parent.I can leave the house, drop off my son at pre-school and be at my office, all within 15 minutes.Working near home is an absolute must.

2. Have perspective. It probably goes without saying that becoming a parent puts things into perspective, but perspective is incredibly important for a young startup. It’s too easy to get caught up in any of the many problems that come across your desk on a given day. I remember the first day that my son, Luke, was able to crawl to the front door and reach out to hug me as I came home.I know this sounds clichéd, but my worries completely went out the door at that moment.

Seeing the big picture is paramount, as a parent and a founder.

3. Be scrappy. Raising Luke helped me to be more resourceful—or "scrappy," as we like to say in the startup world.The first time he puked on me, I didn't have a perfect little towel to wipe it up with, so I took the back of my other sleeve and wiped my shoulder.Anything to clean up the mess and move on.

Same goes for startups—you're usually very limited in resources when something goes wrong, so you have to make it work with what you have.

Having a kid and running a startup at the same time isn't easy, but these have been the most rewarding years of my life so far. My advice to fellow founders? Take the plunge and have a kid—it'll make you a much better entrepreneur!

A digital entrepreneur, Anson Sowby has been launching successful companies and business units for 13 years. Anson co-founded and sold RocketXL with offices in Los Angeles, New York City and Toronto. As CEO, he leads the work for such clients as Unilever, Kraft and PepsiCo. Previously, Anson launched successful business units and start-ups in the Film, Toy and Video Game industries. Learn more about him at http://www.ansonsowby.com.

Sowby is a member of the Young Entrepreneur Council, an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the world's most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library, and email lessons.

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